Egypt to allow TV camera into corruption trials

CAIRO, July 12 (Reuters) - Egypt will allow a television
camera into court for the trials of Hosni Mubarak's associates
to placate protesters calling for more transparency.

Judge Mohamed Hossam al-Gheriyani, the head of the Egyptian
Supreme Judiciary Council, said in a statement on Tuesday that
one camera would be allowed into each session.

Images would be shown on a screen outside the courtroom. It
was not immediately clear whether court sessions would also be
broadcast on public channels.

Separately, the state news agency said Gheriyani recommended
moving the trials to venues that could hold more people.

Egyptians extended protests calling for swifter reforms into
a fifth day, and protesters have been angered in part by the
slow pace of corruption trials and closed court sessions.

Last week, a court cleared three ex-ministers of graft in
the first ruling to exonerate such senior officials since
Egypt's uprising.

On Tuesday, former prime minister Ahmed Nazif was sentenced
to a one-year suspended jail term and former interior minister
Habib al-Adli was jailed for five years for graft.

The protests that unseated President Mubarak in February
were driven by anger at high-level corruption, and the trials of
his former associates are regarded as a credibility test for the
military council that took power after his downfall.

In one court hearing last month, some families and friends
of the more than 840 people who died in the uprising were not
allowed into the courtroom because of the number of lawyers,
activists and journalists there.

Scuffles broke out between security staff and those
prevented from entering.

The large crowds had prompted calls for Adli's trial to be
moved to a bigger location. Some newspaper commentators had even
called for his trial to be held in a sports stadium.
(Writing by Dina Zayed; editing by Robert Woodward)